After Robert Roberson’s execution was delayed, the Texas AG’s office releases an autopsy report and other evidence in the case

AUSTIN, Texas – After delaying the execution of death row inmate Robert Roberson, the Texas Attorney General’s Office has released the autopsy report for Roberson’s daughter, Nikki Curtis, for whom he was convicted and sentenced to death.

The attorney general’s office said it was doing so to correct “untruths” that it said were being reinforced by a coalition interfering in the death penalty process.

According to the Attorney General’s Office, two-year-old Nikki Curtis was hospitalized nearly dead in 2002 with severe bruising to her chin, face, ears, eyes, shoulder and mouth.

“Emergency room nurse Andrea Sims, who saw Nikki before the medical procedure, testified in court that in addition to bruising, Nikki had a handprint on her face and that the back of her head was bruised and “mushy.” Robert Roberson, Nikki’s father, has a history of violent abuse of his daughter, and witnesses testified in court that they were afraid to leave Nikki alone with him because he repeatedly “whipped” her when the baby cried,” the said Office of the Attorney General.

Testimony showed that Roberson often hit Nikki “hard” with his hands, a board or a paddle, and in at least one instance threw her off the bed.

Robert Roberson’s own mother once said, “One day he will kill her and it will be too late for anyone to do anything about it,” according to the attorney general’s office.

“According to the doctors who testified at the trial, Nikki died from severe blunt force head injuries that clearly indicated that the girl had been beaten. Evidence of blunt force trauma ruled out the possibility that the child died from “concussion.” Nikki was abused by her father and died as a result of the trauma he caused. After hearing this evidence and countless hours of testimony about Roberson’s pattern of losing his temper and violently abusing his daughter, a jury of his peers convicted him of murder in 2003 and sentenced Roberson to the death penalty for beating his own daughter so severely that she died. The law in Texas is clear: the prosecution must prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt on all elements of the crime set forth in the indictment. Roberson was charged with aggravated murder for intentionally and knowingly causing the death of a child by inflicting blunt force head injuries,” the Attorney General’s Office said.

The Attorney General’s Office quoted Dr. Jill Urban, the medical examiner who performed Curtis’ autopsy. She stated that photographic evidence showed that Nikki’s head had been struck repeatedly, leaving clear impact wounds, which was completely inconsistent with mere violent shaking.

“Dr. Urban’s findings were reviewed by six chief medical examiners at the Dallas County Medical Examiner’s Office, all of whom agreed and signed her autopsy report. In 2016, when Roberson was appealed, Dr. Urban made it clear that she “clearly defined multiple impact points to the head and determined that the death was due to blunt force injuries,” the attorney general’s office said.

The attorney general’s office also said Roberson repeatedly changed his story during the investigation and trial.

“When Roberson took the almost lifeless Nikki to the hospital, he claimed to the nurses that she had simply fallen off the bed. He then told various nurses that his daughter hit her head on a table next to the bed. When questioned by police, Roberson came back with the story that Nikki simply fell out of bed. Roberson later admitted in his official statement to law enforcement that he did not know what caused the blunt force trauma to Nikki’s head and accused his daughter of being clumsy and falling often,” the attorney general’s office said.

The attorney general’s office also said Roberson confessed to slapping his daughter to “wake her up” before telling his then-girlfriend Teddie Cox that Curtis hit her head on “the brick” in the bedroom, despite police finding had that there was only carpet in the room.

“When Teddie Cox directly asked Roberson if he killed Nikki, Teddie Cox testified that Roberson said, “If he did it, he doesn’t remember going crazy and he doesn’t remember doing it “Similarly, Roberson initially told Dr. Kelly Goodness – one of them defense According to his own witnesses, he did not remember what happened to Nikki, but later admitted that he lost his temper and began abusing Nikki. The jury also heard that Roberson, who has arrested more than a dozen people, strangled his ex-wife with a coat hanger, punched her in the face and broke her nose while she was pregnant, and hit her with a chimney shovel. The jury also heard that Roberson was the girl’s sole caretaker for the first time on the day Nikki’s fatal injuries were inflicted, and he was unhappy about being obligated to care for the child, according to his girlfriend at the time “The AG’s office said.

Among the evidence cited by the attorney general’s office, Roberson admitted to his cellmate that he had sexually abused Curtis, according to a contemporaneous police report.

The autopsy report can be read below:

The Attorney General’s Office also provided additional details about the case, which can be read below:

“Now, a coalition of activists and state lawmakers is intervening in the justice system in an unprecedented way to stop or prevent Roberson’s execution. They attempted to mislead the public by falsely claiming that Roberson was wrongly convicted of “shaken baby syndrome” based on “junk science,” the attorney general’s office said.

State Representative Christina Morales (D), the Houston area’s lone representative on the House Criminal Justice Committee, issued this statement in response to responses from Ken Paxton and the Attorney General’s Office:

“The informant’s statement contradicts the DNA evidence. He is lying. The district attorney chose not to present this unreliable statement at trial because it lacked credibility. The so-called “informant” sought leniency in his own cases and made up this story in the hope of getting a deal – which we can document on record in his own letters demanding a break with the prosecution. Texas has already recognized the dangerous unreliability of prison informant testimony. In 2017, the Republican-controlled Legislature passed reforms to prevent uncorroborated statements like this from being used in court cases. Gov. Abbott signed it into law, and it was a critical step forward after the Legislature’s deep examination of wrongful convictions demonstrated that this type of testimony has led to unfair outcomes. Under current Texas law, this fabricated statement would never be admissible in court because it is unreliable.”

Morales adds that the committee is preparing a point-by-point rebuttal from Paxton.